Oath challenge lawyer now a judge

A barrister who won a landmark legal action not to swear allegiance to the Queen has become a high court judge.

In 2000, Seamus Treacy and another barrister successfully challenged the royal oath barristers had to make before they could be a Queen's Counsel.

They said the declaration to serve the Queen discriminated against them as nationalists and was an affront to their political sensibilities.

Mr Treacy was sworn in as a judge at a private ceremony in the high court.

Seven years ago Mr Treacy and colleague Barry Macdonald applied for a judicial review of the decision to retain the declaration to "well and truly serve Queen Elizabeth II".

It had been retained in spite of a recommendation by the Elliott Committee - composed of members of the Bar Council - that any reference to the Queen should be dropped.

In June 2000, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, announced that Northern Ireland's barristers would no longer have to swear to serve the Queen.